Used-car buyers who have waited years for the law to catch up with a Tucson dealer suspected of cheating them may never get their day in court.
State investigators filed 32 criminal counts against former car lot owner Patrick S. Egan and were searching for him to execute an arrest warrant but recently learned he died in Utah early last year, an agency spokesman told the Arizona Daily Star.
Detectives with the Arizona Department of Transportation’s Office of Inspector General, which investigates dealer fraud complaints, confirmed Egan, 54, died in a Salt Lake City hospital in January 2021, said Ryan Harding, the agency’s public information officer. The cause of death was not available.
The state’s investigation of Pat Egan Automotive Group began in late 2019 after the dealership at South Swan Road and East 22nd Street suddenly closed, leaving dozens of customers in legal limbo. More than two years later, some still are making loan payments on vehicles they don’t own because Egan failed to transfer the titles to them after purchase.
Oliver Plimpton of Tucson, a retired electrical equipment salesman, said he’s been has been making $200-a-month payments since August 2019 on a 2008 Honda CR-V he bought for $7,000. The title is still in the name of the previous owner who sold it to Egan, he said.
At this point, Plimpton said he wonders if he’ll live long enough to see the matter sorted out. “I’m 87 years old. I may never get the title on this car.”
Melissa Davis, 42, who bought a 2011 Kia Soul for nearly $7,000 in August 2019, said Egan told her she’d receive the vehicle’s title within 90 days. “I still have absolutely no idea when or if I will ever own my car,” said Davis, a graphic designer in the Arizona Daily Star’s advertising department.
Harding said Egan was indicted by a grand jury last year on 32 counts of theft, fraudulent schemes and forgery in a case that involved about $500,000 in total losses.
Had the charges been prosecuted, he said, the court would have sorted out what to do about the car buyers who still don’t have titles. It’s unclear what will happen to those customers now that Egan is deceased, he said.
He said the state agency was able to fix things administratively for some buyers. But “for those who are still waiting for a title, their situations are such that (the agency) cannot resolve them on their own,” Harding said.
“The Pima County Superior Court, where the case was filed, will have to determine any next steps,” he said.
Further details of the criminal case were not immediately available. Court records related to the charges are not yet public because the warrant wasn’t executed.
